


Everything Looks Huge Where You're Less Than a Foot Tall

by PaxieAmor



Series: As Seen By Sophie [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Adorable Baby Kitty, F/M, Homesickness, M/M, kitten fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 09:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxieAmor/pseuds/PaxieAmor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony's new pet slips out of the workshop and explores Stark Tower, learning about the world around her and that not everyone is a furless cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Looks Huge Where You're Less Than a Foot Tall

Sophie escaped from the strange room with the giant moving cat toys within the first five seconds of her discovery that the door had been left open. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the strange new giant and mostly furless cats that had taken her in (they only had fur on their heads! It was nuts!), but they seemed to be removing the strange not-fur coverings and the mostly furless cat she really liked (she thinks his name is Tony; the yellow furred one is Steve and the red one is Pepper) said something about licking Pepper’s kitty and Sophie decided she wasn’t in the mood for a bath.

Also, the door was left open.

The first thing she had to contend with was the stairs; they were very tall and she was very not. It took her a moment, but Sophie soon discovered that the stairs weren’t one big thing she had to climb all at once, but a bunch of little things she could take one at a time. That was nice, she thought as she leapt onto the first platform. The maker clearly had little cats in mind when they designed this. In a matter of minutes, she had gotten to the top of the stairs and was able to go wherever she pleased. The world was hers to explore! Nothing could stop her! SHE WAS INVINCI wait, was that someone crying?

Everything Sophie knew about crying she had learned from her momma, who wept quite bitterly on the day of her birth. Sophie had been born in the midst of a rampaging storm, her momma curled up in a cardboard box on her human’s fire escape; she’d slipped out earlier that day, as she always had, and returned home to find the place deserted and no way for her to get back inside. Sophie remembered her momma singing to her and her siblings as the weather whipped around them, the sound of soft sobs mixed in.

“You’re safe, my children,” her momma sang. “All is not lost. You’re safe through the summer, and safe through the frost. The darkness won’t harm you, there’s nothing to fear. You’re safe, my children, you’re safe, my dears.”

Sophie remembered believing everything her momma sang as she curled up close amongst her three siblings and falling asleep. She also remembered waking the next morning, hearing more sobs than singing and feeling cold against her where there used to be warmth. She didn’t know why at the time, and wouldn’t know until much later, and she started crying as well. Her momma’s sobs changed their tone after that, becoming happier than they had been. She wouldn’t understand that until later as well.

Her momma would still cry after that, the sad and happy kind. She cried when she couldn’t find enough food for her and Sophie, cried harder when Sophie would share hers. She cried the hardest when one of the furless cats had caught her in some weird string thing and took her away; Sophie had stayed hidden beneath a dumpster, too frightened to go to her momma when she cried for her.

Sophie never saw her momma again. That made her cry too.

This crying was a lot like when Sophie’s momma cried that last time. It was very sad and Sophie didn’t like it at all. She found herself wandering towards the source of the crying, through the long hallways and up some more stairs (there were more this time! How high was this place?) and then she found the crying. In the last room on the right of a long hallway was another mostly furless, seated on the floor next to a hole in the wall with fire inside. Sophie liked fire; her momma always told her not to get too close, but it was so warm, and Sophie liked being warm.

What little fur this cat had was yellow, like Steve’s but it was long and went all the way down his back. This cat was as big as Steve was too… and he looked sad. He wasn’t crying loudly, nor did he seem to be aware of the fact he was crying. But he did look sad…

“Hey,” Sophie said as she toddled her way towards him. Her legs were very small and this place was very big; it was exhausting. “Hey cat. What’s wrong with you, cat?” The cat in question looked around the room, a puzzled expression on his face. “I’m down here, cat!” His eyes finally landed upon Sophie.

“Well hello there,” he said, reaching over and picking her up. “Where did you come from, little one?”

“Down the stairs,” Sophie replied. “There’s a lot of them here. I’m tired. Can you hold me? I like being held.” The larger cat chuckled, cradling Sophie in his arms and scratching gently behind her ears. “Oh, I like that. Keep doing that, please, cat.”

“I’m not a cat, little one,” he replied. “My name is Thor; I’m Asgardian.” Sophie thought about that for a moment.

“I don’t know what means, Thor. Tony calls me Sophie. Is that my name?”

“Ah, so you are Tony’s cat then? Yes, if that is what he calls you, then that is your name.”

“What’s a Sophie, Thor?”

“A Sophie is… you.” Sophie thought about that as well.

“Yes, that makes sense.” Sophie cuddled close to Thor, a happy purr rumbling through her as he continued to scratch her head. “You were crying. Why?”

“Oh,” Thor replied, his voice soft and sad. “It is nothing, little one. Do not trouble yourself with it.”

“But you’re sad. I don’t like it when cats, or whatever you are’s are sad.” Thor laughed and Sophie felt her whole body shake; it was like purring but harder, and she decided that she rather liked it.

“I must confess, I am a bit sad… I believe mortals refer to it as homesickness.”

“What’s a mortal?”

“Like me, but from Earth.”

“What’s a Earth?”

“That’s where we are now.”

“So… Tony and Pepper and Steve… they’re not cats?”

“No, little one,” Thor replied with another laugh. “I believe you are the only cat here.”

“Okay… Thor, what’s homesickness?”

“It means that I miss my home, my family…” Sophie understood that and nuzzled against him.

“I miss my family too,” she admitted. “My momma, mostly. I don’t really remember my brother and sisters. Do you miss your momma too?” Thor smiled fondly.

“Indeed, I miss my mother very much. Though I also miss my father, and… and my brother.”

“Did your brother not wake up too?” Thor looked down at her. “Momma said that’s what happened to my brother and sisters. They fell asleep and were so tired that they didn’t wake up. It made her sad.” Thor’s head scratches suddenly became a little harder, though not unpleasant. Sophie purred louder, rubbing against his hand.

“No, Sophie, my brother… he did some not nice things and he is being punished for them. I… I do not believe I will be seeing him again for a long time… if ever.”

“That’s sad,” Sophie agreed. “I did something bad once; a big… mortal?”

“They’re also called humans,” Thor admitted. Sophie nodding, liking this term better than “mortal” or “mostly furless cat”.

“A big human picked me up and tried to take me away from Momma. I scratched him really bad and he dropped me. Momma wasn’t happy, because the human wanted to take me with him and she said that was good, but I didn’t want to go…” She looked up at him. “Maybe your brother was bad because of something he didn’t want too. It doesn’t mean that what he did was okay, but maybe knowing why makes it easier?” Thor thought about this for a moment before nodding his head.

“You are quite wise beyond your years, Sophie.”

“What are years, Thor?” Before he could explain, there were sounds of commotion coming from the hallway.

“Why didn’t you tell us she’d slipped out, Jarvis?”

“I wasn’t aware that feline babysitting was now part of my daily tasks, Sir.”

“Make a note, you are officially on Sophie monitoring duty from now on.”

“I’ll do my best to hold back my excitement, Sir.”

“Tony!” Sophie mewed happily, her tail swishing back and forth slightly.

“Sophie!” Tony ran into the room a moment later, a look of relief on his face. “Oh thank god, Thor’s got her.”

“Tony,” Thor said slowly. “Where are your pants?”

“A better question would be “where are _all_ your clothes”, but I really don’t think you want the answer to that.”

“I believe that you are correct.” Tony picked Sophie up carefully. “There you are, you little rascal.”

“Hi Tony!” she mewed happily, licking his cheek. “I went exploring and met Thor, he was sad, and we talked and cuddled and he told me about humans and earth and what are clothes, Tony? Tony, why are you looking at me like you don’t know what I’m saying?”

“Because he doesn’t, Sophie,” Thor replied. “Humans are not blessed with the gift of All Speak as Asgardians are.”

“Oh.”

“Thor, are you seriously talking to my cat?” Tony asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I am indeed; she is sorrowed that you cannot understand her as I do.”

“Oh… well…”

“No!” Sophie said, nuzzling Tony’s face. “No sad, don’t be sad, Tony, I love you, Thor tell him to stop being sad.”

“She is distressed that you seem to be sad now,” Thor continued. “She doesn’t seem to like it when anyone is feeling that way.”

“We’ll just have to put her on the Happiness Patrol,” Tony replied with a grin that made Sophie feel much better. “Can you watch her for a bit while I finish up down stairs?”

“I assume with Pepper and Steve?”

“You would assume correctly.” Tony handed Sophie back to Thor, patting her head fondly. “I’ll be back later, okay?”

“Okay, Tony,” Sophie replied. “I love you.”

“Sophie would like you to know that she loves you,” Thor told him. Sophie watched as Tony’s face changed slightly. It wasn’t a bad change, but there certainly was one.

“Yeah… me too, fuzzy.” Sophie purred happily, liking that answer very much, as Tony turned and walked away. She liked it here with Tony, and Pepper, and Steve, and now Thor too. It wasn’t like being with her momma, but it was still good.

“Hey Thor?”

“Yes?”

“Can we go hunt mice? I’m really hungry.”

“I don’t believe we have any mice here, Sophie,” Thor said with a grin. “However, I believe there is some tuna fish in the kitchen.” Sophie wasn’t sure what tuna fish was, but she never really liked mice anyway and was willing to try anything once.


End file.
